EAST LANSING — National radio sports talk star Jim Rome brought Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio into his "jungle" on Wednesday for prodding.

Dantonio repeated much of what he spoke of at the Big Ten Football Media Day at the Downtown Hilton Hotel in Chicago last week, but the Spartans boss did reveal a bit more about State's much-hyped quarterback battle.

Specifically, Dantonio drew parallels between departed star Kirk Cousins and rising fifth-year senior Andrew Maxwell while also hinting a two-QB system could be in the works for an indefinite number of games.

"You've got to make great decisions as a quarterback,, and more importantly for (Maxwell), you've got to create,'' Dantonio said. "When things break down around you, you have to make great plays. Your arm, your decision making or your feet. He's gonna be pressed because we have a couple of other guys around him.''

But Dantonio made it clear he has high hopes for Maxwell, who dealt with inexperienced and inconsistent receivers along with a banged-up offensive line that rotated bodies throughout last season.

"Much like you saw with Kirk Cousins, 2009 a learning year, 2010 2011 were positive years for Kirk Cousins and we are hoping for the same thing for Andrew Maxwell, and I think he has the demeanor of it and he's resilient.'' Dantonio said. "His frame of mind is very positive and he's looking forward to the near future.''

Even if Maxwell knows Dantonio plans on playing two quarterbacks.

"We will use two,'' Dantonio said. "I think that's important. That's one thing Andrew lacked last year, he didn't have experience coming into the 2012 season because we went exclusively with Cousins.

"We need to play another guy to get him game experience as we move forward throughout the year.''

Indeed, but what does "throughout" the year mean?

There's a good chance that conclusion has yet to be drawn by the coaching staff itself, as they will likely allow results to dictate that.

"We did put him (Cook) in the TCU game,'' Dantonio told Rome. "Cook has a presence from having been in that situation."

Dantonio, however, made sure not to rule out O'Connor and Terry, as they too will compete this fall.

"It's important that whoever is the guy — or whoever are the guys, and we really have four of them —make good decisions,'' Dantonio said. "We'll let August determine that.

"Right now Maxwell is number one, Cook, two, and Tyler O'Connor and Damion Terry three and four.''

Dantonio reiterated that he will use different quarterbacks with different groups, partly in an effort to test their poise as well as abilities.

It's part of how Dantonio plans to create anxiety and pressure in fall drills.

"You can do things, for example, putting a third quarterback with the ones in a tough situation and asking him to handle it, or even putting the number one quarterback in with the twos.